Another person's light has been extinguished this morning, and this person is none other than my Form 5 English teacher, Ms Teo. As usual, the initial reaction is hock, a state of being completely speechless. Then, come denial immediately after. Then, maybe anger will drop by, then the temporary numbness for everything before you.
But this wasn't the case for me, when I heard via facebook how my once witty and full of life teacher, had left the Earth, forever.
In a way, I'm glad I didn't run into her in Normah while I was doing my attachment, cause I didn't want to lose the last memory I have of her, that is, making some sort of sarcastic comeback to the guys when they were being rowdy.
Then, again, a small part of me wished I had seen her, like Eric did when he was attached to the doctor in charge of her, Dr. Lau.
He got to see her twice, one conscious, happy, liveful and the next, semi conscious, vulnerable, uncommunicative.
This was all in the span of a week.
When I spoke to her doctor during lunch, he said she was sent home to be with her family and when I asked how long he thought she had?
He replied with a sombre, "Days."
Well, he made a mistake. It was more like a 'day'.
I sincerely hope that wherever she is now, I pray that she's in Heaven, sharing a joke with the angels or meeting my dad for the first time.
If she is in Heaven, I hope there's golf, cigarettes and beer for her there too. :)
Never forgotten.
It's funny how life can just come and go like that.
It's like.. one day you're seeing a person and the next, they're gone.
You can't see them anymore, or ever.
It's as if they went on an extended holiday somewhere around the world, and they're still here, just you can't ever see them again.
Yeah, a holiday, that's what it feels like.
Cause death, death is strange to me.
I still can't fathom how one loses someone.
I don't know Ms. Teo all that well, but she taught me for two years and now,
she's just gone.
I don't think I'll ever understand death, until when it maybe comes for me next.
Life seems so fragile nowadays, it feels like everyone you know is dropping down from left and right. Celebrities are dying,
childhood friends of friends passed,
family members have gone,
that childhood family man you knew so well is gone forever too.
It's like death is really ringing in the year, these past few years.
I remember a time when I could go for years without ever knowing anyone passing away,
I wish it was like that again.
As for her family members, I pray that the card we're preparing for her,
provides them with some comfort and that they'll know that her time in Lodge, was never spent in vain.
Her students still remember, love and will always cherish the precious moments when we had her to ourselves for 40minutes in a day.
And I'm truly sorry for your loss.
